


you're my healing

by futurefishes



Category: Free!
Genre: Confession, Fluff, I suppose, M/M, Spoilers, and hello i love free! and rh and i'm so ready for this, based on the fourth episode of dttf!, haru has a crush on rin eeeeep, lots of softness, rinharu - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 17:35:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15539448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/futurefishes/pseuds/futurefishes
Summary: haru calls rin, seeking reassurance.(inspired by episode 4 of the third season. spoilers ahead!)





	you're my healing

**Author's Note:**

> hello everyone!!
> 
> this is my first free! fic, how cool is that? i'm really excited about this! i've been wanting to write something about free! (and rinharu especially) since forever, but i've had a huge writer's block when it comes to this pairing. fortunately though, i started to think about this prompt when i was at work, so i just had to write it as soon as i got home!!
> 
> anyway, i hope you enjoy!

“Hey, Haru!” Rin’s voice greets him as soon as his friend picks up the video-call. His red hair was wet, slightly sticking to his face, hinting on the fact that he had just gotten out of the shower. “Unusual for you to call.”

“Yeah,” Haru replies simply, as his eyes stares at the pixelated face of his friend (and crush). It had been long since Haru has seen him, not since spring break, but he still looks just as good as he did before he left.

“So, what brings me the honor?” Rin asks, with a smile that reaches his eyes. Haru wouldn’t say that he was the best at reading Rin, but he would describe his smile as giddy and excited.

“I just felt like talking with you,” Haru answers, earning himself a happy “hmm” from Rin in return. They fall in silence for a few seconds, where Haru can feel his cheeks grow slightly warmer - even though the camera on his phone isn’t in the best quality, it’s clear that Rin is analyzing him. His giddy smile is soon replaced with a worried frown.

“Hey, something wrong?” he asks, with a voice dripping with concern, as he tries to meet Haru’s gaze through the screen. He must have how tense Haru is and how strained his small smile is.

_ Yes,  _ Haru thinks, yes, something is wrong. Yesterday, Ikuya’s friend (Hiyori, was it?) had said that everyone who swam with him ended up suffering - words that had been playing on repeat in his mind ever since last evening, words that made themselves known in his gut by the anxious feeling settling in him.

Haru  _ knows  _ that he’s acted wrongly - both towards Ikuya and Rin - in the past. And while he and Rin are fine now, there was a time when they clearly wasn’t, when he had a huge hole in the shape of the red-headed swimmer in his heart that tore both of them apart.

Was he the reason they both were broken, a little as two years ago? Was he the reason that Rin suffered, all those years? Is Hiyori right?

“Is it my fault?” Haru asks without thinking twice, only realizing the words spoken when Rin looks at him with furrowed brows and a worried look on his face.

“Is what your fault?”

“Is it my fault you suffered all those years?”

The silence is suffocating and the atmosphere of the room is quickly changing; they've never really spoken about their fall out and the years in between their reunion after they had met under the cherry blossom tree two years ago. Haru is silently sitting, on his bed, with his heart beating in his chest, waiting for Rin’s reply. Rin, on the other hand, just looks at him with wide eyes and a surprised look on his face. He stammers, unsure of the words to say at first, as if rendered speechless by the question.

“It’s no secret that things were difficult for me, and that some of it had to do with my relationship with you,” Rin begins, and Haru feels himself tense up further, and he finds himself afraid of hearing the truth. “But I would  _ never _ put the blame on  _ you _ . It’s not your fault that these years were difficult for me.”  Rin runs a hand through his hair and chuckles, but without any humour. “I was the one who cut the ties with you, not the other way around. I was the one who got angry at you, for being able to swim faster than I could. My hardships are not because of you, but  _ because _ of me.”

“Really?” Haru questions, and even he can hear the hope that’s starting to resonate in his voice; the same hope that brings a warm smile back to Rin’s pink lips.

“Yes, really,” Rin answers with a chuckle, a chuckle so beautiful that Haru never wants the sound to stop. “Besides, everything with you was only one part of my hardships. I had a tough time in Australia as well, as you already know. So it’s definitely not your fault.” Rin moves his phone closer to his face, as if trying to show Haru that he is, in fact, meaning it. “You  _ did not _ make me suffer, Haru.”

Haru feels himself smile out of relief, Rin’s words calming him down for the first time since last night, when the air had smelled like chlorine and the words had echoed between the walls. He feels himself relax, the tenseness melting away into sleepiness, the anxiety that had been in his body finally leaving. “Thank you, Rin.”

“No problem, Haru,” Rin grins back, and they spend a few moments just looking at each other. Haru finds himself yearning for Rin, and yearning for his warmth next to him. “Anyway, how did you think about that in the first place?”

“Someone said it to me yesterday,” Haru explains, and he sees the grin on Rin’s lips fade into something else. “That I only made everyone who swam with me suffer.”

“What?” Rin suddenly voices into the microphone, louder than before, causing Haru to jump in his seat. The look on the red-headed swimmer is one of anger, one that Haru, unfortunately, has seen a lot. “Who said that?”

“A friend of a friend,” Haru plainly explains, figuring that it would take too long to explain the situation at hand.

“Well, that friend of a friend is wrong!” Rin exclaims, something in his eyes sparkling as he continues to rant. Haru can just sit there in silence, as he watches Rin with a beating heart. “I’ve always been so happy to swim next to you, and even when we didn’t talk I wanted to race you and to swim in the lane next to you. I’m delighted to have been your teammate, and that I'm your friend and the one who’ll challenge you on the global stage. You’ve meant so much for me, both when it comes to swimming and everything else!”

Haru feels like he can’t breathe, the words leaving Rin’s pretty mouth making him feel all warm on the inside.

“Have swimming with you made me suffer? No, it hasn’t. It’s true that I’ve suffered a few years, but it’s not because of swimming with you, but rather because I wasn’t happy with my own achievements! Swimming with you, after you ran after me at that tournament, when you said you would show me a sight I've never seen before… You have no idea how happy that made me, or how much that healed me,” Rin takes a deep breath, and looks straight into the camera. “Swimming with you has been my healing. _You_ are my healing, Haru.”

“Rin…” Haru breaths out as Rin finishes talking. His heart is beating loudly in his chest, his cheeks are  _ really warm _ and his mind is spinning, the words that were on repeat in his mind replaced with new ones - _you are my healing, Haru_. Rin doesn’t look to be in a better condition - his cheeks are matching his hair, and his eyes wide as he realizes what he just confessed to.

“I- I don’t-” Rin tries to save himself the embarrassment, tries to save himself for the situation at full, but he stumbles over the words, unsure of what to say. He ends up taking the easy route, trying to end the conversation quickly. “I need to go, but I hope you feel better soon, Haru.”

Rin’s gaze is plastered elsewhere, on everything else that is his phone camera, as he tries to hide his red cheeks and gazed daze ( _Haru wishes that he wouldn’t, because he looks incredible like this_ ).

“Rin,” Haru quickly voices, as to get Rin’s attention before his crush press the hang up button. It works, and soon Rin’s red eyes are focused on Haru’s blue ones. 

Haru smiles fondly. Rin cheeks gets redder.

“You’re my healing too,” Haru confesses, and the last thing he sees is the surprised face of his crush before his finger presses onto the red button and the video-call ends.

He sits on his bed for a few seconds in silence, going through the conversation in his head. He smiles and falls back down onto his bed, with a smile he couldn’t wipe off of his lips no matter how much he tried.

Now, he feels much,  _ much  _ better.


End file.
